Next Spurs Manager v.2

[AuroRaman]

If Rafa is available and keen to come and we don't snap him up, then I give up.

He won the Champs League with Liverplol for ****s sake. Liverplol. Champions of Europe. He did that.

Who got under his skin? Fergie that's who. And he's gone. So no one gets under his skin. That's a fact. Jack.

He's probably only behind Wenger and Jose in active managers with Premier League pedigree.

You can stick LVG, FDB, RDB, Pulis, Moyes, Tiesto, Speedy Gonzalez and whoever else is in the mix right up the Sol Campbell. I don't want another season of some amateur finding his way, "ooh we gotta give him time because absolutely useless manager + time = success, bro". No.

I'm sick of taking gambles with the most important appointment we can make at our club.

Rafa is as close to a sure bet as we'll get.

=D>

\o/

 

[Dicko]

This could be a very interesting discussion.

I agree with whoever it was that pointed out to me that he's probably the lowest risk option of those that have been presented as plausible. He has a lot more PL experience and experience in general than just about all the other targets (and Sherwood of course). And he's been at least relatively successful most places he's been. When he hasn't been successful (at the end at Liverpool, Inter) I think there have been some mitigating circumstances.

For me the primary negatives are:

-He pretty much tends to revert to boring football very consistently. There was a period at Liverpool when they were free flowing. I think it was at the time when they had Torres in full form, Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano. But even at Liverpool it didn't take long for him to revert to a much more cautious style of play.

-Although he's had some massive success in the transfer market with players like Mascherano, Alonso and Torres he's also had a lot of misses. And the weaknesses in the Liverpool side (like the wide players) just kept on being weaknesses season after season despite considerable amounts of money being spent.

I find it very hard overall to argue against Benitez from a rational viewpoint. Particularly if, as it seems, LvG is no longer a plausible candidate for us. We probably have to be at least somewhat pragmatic with our approach considering our size and financial power and most managers are hit and miss in the transfer market.

So are there any specific 'Pro's' for Rafa? I mean experience is a given but if he has a bad transfer history and he plays on the whole negative football (Something not many Spurs fans would accept even if we were to have moderate success with it) then what are the advantages to getting him? Would he tighten the defence, would he install a winning mentality etc..?

 

[braineclipse]

So are there any specific 'Pro's' for Rafa? I mean experience is a given but if he has a bad transfer history and he plays on the whole negative football (Something not many Spurs fans would accept even if we were to have moderate success with it) then what are the advantages to getting him? Would he tighten the defence, would he install a winning mentality etc..?

I would say most likely yes to both of those.

The very obvious pro is that he's proven that he's very likely to get results. Not sure how many more points than that are necessary...

 

[Superted]

His poor transfer record is over played. He had Pool in the mix for the league most seasons even after turning over pretty much his whole Champs League winning squad, except Gerrard and Carragher (who he turned from a plonk to a reasonable footballer).

Alonso and Torres are too pretty decent "wins" in the transfer market.

His teams were very solid defensively, I seem to recall Reina always had the most clean sheets.

He won the big games - twice beating Chelsea in CL semis. It was only Man U who had his measure.

He also could turn things around when the game was slipping away, the classic example being Istanbul.

He ticks most of the boxes, as much as any realistic option would (assuming he indeed is realistic).

 

[Truth]

Do you think Liverpool fans were worrying about Benitez' many poor buys, when Reina, Agger, Skrtl, Mascherano, Arbeloa, Alonso, Kuyt and Torres were contributing to their success?

He made some outstanding signings.

People talk about the great midfields of United (Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Beckham) and Arsenal (Pires, Gilberto, Vieira, Ljungberg), but the Mascherano-Alonso-Gerrard axis was brilliant.

 

[Seedy Ron]

We've got Baldi and Baldy to stop him buying a load of ****e.

 

[braineclipse]

His poor transfer record is over played. He had Pool in the mix for the league most seasons even after turning over pretty much his whole Champs League winning squad, except Gerrard and Carragher (who he turned from a plonk to a reasonable footballer).

Alonso and Torres are too pretty decent "wins" in the transfer market.

His teams were very solid defensively, I seem to recall Reina always had the most clean sheets.

He won the big games - twice beating Chelsea in CL semis. It was only Man U who had his measure.

He also could turn things around when the game was slipping away, the classic example being Istanbul.

He ticks most of the boxes, as much as any realistic option would (assuming he indeed is realistic).

Point taken. I might be overly harsh on judging his overall transfer record. Some good signings apart from the massive successes too.

Based on results he seems to have done with the Cavani+ funds given him at Napoli too...

 

[Raziel]

So are there any specific 'Pro's' for Rafa? I mean experience is a given but if he has a bad transfer history and he plays on the whole negative football (Something not many Spurs fans would accept even if we were to have moderate success with it) then what are the advantages to getting him? Would he tighten the defence, would he install a winning mentality etc..?

Pros -> He does well in cups (kind of fits with Spurs). If we got him in, could see us pulling off a league/FA cup win within 2 seasons. He would tighten the defense, you would likely see someone like Sandro play. He knows the PL very well, and it would **** the Scousers off no end.

The downsides to FSW have been as mentioned, poor transfer record with large turnover (might be mitigated somewhat at Spurs with how Levy manages transfers), and a tendency to be more conservative (don't believe he is as negative as Jose/AVB).

 

[Raziel]

His poor transfer record is over played. He had Pool in the mix for the league most seasons even after turning over pretty much his whole Champs League winning squad, except Gerrard and Carragher (who he turned from a plonk to a reasonable footballer).

Alonso and Torres are too pretty decent "wins" in the transfer market.

He also could turn things around when the game was slipping away, the classic example being Istanbul.

He ticks most of the boxes, as much as any realistic option would (assuming he indeed is realistic).

No it's not, he had a few (probably 7 or 8) decent buys, but iirc, Pool bought around 80 players in his time .. not good.

As I mentioned, think Levy would counter some of that, but Rafa is not good at buying ..

 

[Gutter Boy]

Point taken. I might be overly harsh on judging his overall transfer record. Some good signings apart from the massive successes too.

Based on results he seems to have done with the Cavani+ funds given him at Napoli too...

He works under a DoF at Napoli - a guy called Riccardo Bigon.

The perfect solution for us is Benitez + Baldini.

 

[Dicko]

He works under a DoF at Napoli - a guy called Riccardo Bigon.

The perfect solution for us is Benitez + Baldini.

Have you moved on yet GB? Or is there still some LVG hope? You had me convinced he was the man, I still don't think I am ready to take that step from LVG to Rafa.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Have you moved on yet GB? Or is there still some LVG hope? You had me convinced he was the man, I still don't think I am ready to take that step from LVG to Rafa.

Still an outside hope, but I'm moving on.

I'd be pretty happy with any of the leading candidates to be fair. I have reservations about Benitez's style of play and mentality under pressure, and about FDB's resilience and defensive organisation. But I'd be happy to see either given a go.

ABToM is the key really (which has been brilliant work by Levy to lower our expectations so much in just 4 months)

 

[harr1984]

There was a time a couple of years back when Benitez was touted as a potential and it was an emphatic no on here. I'm not against him,but what I'd like to know is a) what has changed opinion (I'm guessing his stint at Chelsea) b) Why were a lot on here so against him in the first place? I can't remember....

 

[diego_maradona]

There was a time a couple of years back when Benitez was touted as a potential and it was an emphatic no on here. I'm not against him,but what I'd like to know is a) what has changed opinion (I'm guessing his stint at Chelsea) b) Why were a lot on here so against him in the first place? I can't remember....

Sherwood

 

[chancer]

There was a time a couple of years back when Benitez was touted as a potential and it was an emphatic no on here. I'm not against him,but what I'd like to know is a) what has changed opinion (I'm guessing his stint at Chelsea) b) Why were a lot on here so against him in the first place? I can't remember....

1. Style of football perceived as negative/boring.
2. Concern about his ability in transfer market.
3. Concern about his calmness under pressure (the whole "dossier" meltdown thing about United).

 

[Gutter Boy]

There was a time a couple of years back when Benitez was touted as a potential and it was an emphatic no on here. I'm not against him,but what I'd like to know is a) what has changed opinion (I'm guessing his stint at Chelsea) b) Why were a lot on here so against him in the first place? I can't remember....

Good question

For me - Chelsea and Napoli. I picked the brain of a smart Chelsea fan (there is at least one) on Saturday. He was a big fan and said he'd done a remarkable job for them. Pulling Napoli back together after losing Cavani was also an impressive achievement (though I suppose FBD has done the same thing 3 times now with losing Suarez, Verts and Eriksen in successive years).

I was against him 2 years ago primarily because:
i) He use to a bit of a **** in the run up to games with us - I remember some nonsense mind-game where he was pretending to tap up Defoe and talking about a p/x with Cisse
ii) The Alonso, Barry, Aquilani thing was a massive balls up
iii) The way he cracked up that season. His 'fact, fact, fact' speech was up there with Keegan's 'I'd love it'

 

[Rossi22]

Still an outside hope, but I'm moving on.

I'd be pretty happy with any of the leading candidates to be fair. I have reservations about Benitez's style of play and mentality under pressure, and about FDB's resilience and defensive organisation. But I'd be happy to see either given a go.

ABToM is the key really (which has been brilliant work by Levy to lower our expectations so much in just 4 months)

How about Poch?

 

[AdamB]

Just for the sake of discussion.. Could we do a Pros & Cons for Benitez?

Cons:
He wouldnt leave Napoli for us

The end

 

[Rossi22]

Cons:
He wouldnt leave Napoli for us

The end

Phil Thompson reckons he would jump at the chance.

 

[Cochise]

Skysports News sources understand that Man UTD are still looking at other managerial candidates despite having positive talks with Louis van Gaal.

Someone please shoot me now. I'm guessing this is why all the papers have LVG telling them to make the announcement now, because he doesn't want them looking elsewhere.